


let the ocean drag you down (and lift you up again)

by procrastinatingbird



Series: The Amazons of Themyscira [2]
Category: Wonder Woman (2017)
Genre: F/F, Gen, got some angst sprinkled throughout, there's a description of drowning in here as well if anyone doesn't want to read that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-07 20:31:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11631339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/procrastinatingbird/pseuds/procrastinatingbird
Summary: She is Antiope, second born of the Amazons, and it is by the ocean that she lives and dies.





	let the ocean drag you down (and lift you up again)

She is Antiope, second born of the Amazons, and it is by the ocean that she lives and dies. She claws her way up from its depths to live, to breathe, and to fight. And she will die by it to save the Godkiller. She has always been what the Amazons needed most; a sister, a general, and a martyr. She gives and gives and gives until she has nothing left to offer but her life. And she is not forgotten.

The Amazons were born of the souls of women who died by the hands of men, reborn to spread peace and love. Few remember their previous lives, save for the barest flashes of memory. Most only remember their death, if anything at all, or nonsensical memories; picking apples off trees in the early autumn, weaving fabric for clothes worn by people long forgotten, sweeping the dirt out of a small house as faceless children run by laughing. In contrast, Antiope and Hippolyta remember much of their lives, though there are blank spaces in between the vivid memories that even together they cannot fill. Antiope can remember toddling after her older sister as a young child. Hippolyta can remember the days spent exploring the woods near their home. Both remember the day they died; Hippolyta by the hands of a man poisoned by his anger, and Antiope by the same man when she tried to save Hippolyta. Sometimes, Antiope wonders if her rebirth is a chance for her to redeem herself from her previous failure. She would give her life away without a second thought for her sister.

Antiope does very little for her own pleasure, devoting her life to the betterment of her people. After the rebellion, when the Amazons are safely sheltered away in Themyscira, she busies herself with any task she is capable of. Any spare time she has, she gives freely to the construction of their new island home. She lifts stones for the new buildings, chops wood for the blacksmiths, even attempts to help in the makeshift kitchens that were built hastily to feed the laboring Amazons, before she is kicked out for cooking food that is, “More likely to murder our warriors than to sustain them.” 

…Niobe didn’t know what she was talking about.

Antiope likes to think that she was not sulking after being kicked out of the kitchens when Menalippe came to find her. She was simply deep in thought, contemplating the next task she could perform to aid the construction of their new home. 

“Of course not.” Menalippe’s eyes sparkled with barely concealed laughter when Antiope told her just that, though she appeared to swallow her amusement long enough to hand Antiope one of the rolls of bread she had snagged during her shift in the kitchens. She sits next to Antiope on the cliff side as they watch the clouds roll by over the calm ocean that surrounds the island. For once, Antiope does not wish to rush off to her next task.

Construction around the island eventually slows, and she finds herself with more and more free time. It unsettles her, as it leaves her alone with her thoughts and her memories of war and death.

“We should have an army,” she tells Hippolyta, “We do not know how long this hidden paradise will remain such.” Antiope knows in her bones that Ares survived. She also knows that the army would be half for Themyscira and half for herself. She does not know what to do when there are no more wars to fight.

Hippolyta nearly says no. Antiope can see the disagreement in her eyes. But in Hippolyta’s arms the infant Diana sleeps, and Antiope sees her sister hug the child closer to her chest. Hippolyta gives a small nod, barely perceptible. “Do as you wish.”

The organization of the Amazonian military gives Antiope more than enough to do. The rebellion needed no formal command structure, save for Hippolyta as a rallying point, nor did it need a schedule of drills or training. It was fueled by rage and ruled by fury, but this military, should it need to stand up to an invasion, will need to be disciplined. Not all Amazons wish to fight again, many are content to a simpler life now that they are safe. Antiope puts out a call for any willing Amazons and is shocked at the number that show. Perhaps she is not the only one who does not know what to do in peacetime.

She does not immediately decide on a command structure, instead deciding to test out each warrior’s abilities. The Amazons are natural born warriors, but each has their own preferred style of fighting. There are archers, swordswomen, and cavalry. Some warriors have neither the aptitude nor the interest in leading, preferring to follow and trust in their fellow Amazons. Others quickly rise to the top, in both fighting skill and leadership qualities; Artemis, Phillipus, and Menalippe among them. They distinguish themselves constantly, and with every bar Antiope sets, they effortlessly clear it. In the end, it is Menalippe that rises above the rest to become her lieutenant. The ranks of captain are bestowed on Artemis and Phillipus.

At the time of the rebellion, the Amazons seemed more like a ravenous wolf pack, hungry for blood, than a proper army. Now they are a well-oiled machine, where each soldier works in tandem with the next, leveraging each other’s strengths and covering each other’s weaknesses. They fall into a routine, training nearly every day, and Antiope’s nightmares slowly fade away with each practice drill and each morning run on the beach. She also realizes that bit by bit, she gives away her sisterhood to the Amazons and instead becomes their leader.

Antiope’s days are so often consumed with practice drills and swordplay, that she often forgets she is more than just a general. It is a rare occasion when both Antiope and Hippolyta have nothing to do, but today is one of those days. They bring Diana down to the ocean, where she squeals with joy and all but throws herself into the waves. Hippolyta seems content to sit on the sand and watch her daughter play, so Antiope joins her. They sit in a comfortable silence for a few moments, watching Diana splash around in the water and chase after the small schools of fish near the shore.

“Sister.” Hippolyta does not look at Antiope when she addresses her, instead continuing to watch her daughter playing in the ocean. “Does the army truly consume all of your time?”

Antiope scoffs. “Of course not.”

“You spend all your time preparing for a war that may never come--”

“The island needs to be prepared.” Antiope retorted quickly.

Hippolyta sighs, still not taking her watchful gaze off of Diana. “You neglect yourself in the process. Life is not all war and work, Antiope.”

“Says the woman who hardly puts down her crown long enough to rest.”

Hippolyta gives her a wry smile at that. “Perhaps you are right. But I would hate to see my own sister so consumed by the memory of war that she forgets, for the moment, that we are safe. Haven’t you always wondered who you might be if there was no war?"

Antiope sighs. “There is always war Hippolyta.”

They fall back into silence for a time, and there is only the sound of the waves and Diana’s laughter. Antiope wonders if Hippolyta is right. She still does not know what to do when there is no war.

Antiope does not notice at first, but eventually she realizes the rhythm that has developed between her and Menalippe. They run together on the beach before training begins. Menalippe seeks out Antiope during meals, occasionally pushing food in front of her when she is too focused on the next day’s training plans to remember to eat. Antiope seeks out Menalippe in the library late at night when she cannot sleep, knowing full well that the other woman will either be absorbed in one of the novels or asleep in one of the alcoves. There is something unspoken between them, as each looks out for the other, learns from the other.

It is by the ocean that Antiope gives away her heart. She and Menalippe started their run earlier than usual that day, and now they lean against the wall of the training ground, staring out at the sunrise over the water. Something hangs in the air between them and Antiope turns to Menalippe to break the silence. Whatever remark she had been planning to say dies on her lips as her gaze catches Menalippe’s. Brown eyes hold blue and each says a thousand things in a single stare.

Neither can remember who closed the distance first, who took the first leap. After hundreds of years, the first kiss blurs into the second and the third and all those after, and both can only remember the feeling of coming home.

Antiope’s heart may belong to Menalippe, but her love is not confined to just a single person. There is Hippolyta, her beloved sister, and Diana, her niece, who might as well be her daughter. She loves Diana enough to go behind Hippolyta’s back to train her, knowing full well that even if Hippolyta will not tell Diana her destiny, it will catch up to her anyway. She knew the gods, long ago, and nothing was ever so simple with them. A godling cannot simply hide from her heritage. The child takes to the sword like a duckling to water, and then to the bow, the spear, and all manner of weaponry. Each time Diana masters a new technique, Antiope feels her own heart swell with pride.

Antiope is blown across the training field by her niece’s power and still all she can feel is pride. Her ears are ringing, her vision blurring, and she can feel blood dripping from the back of her head, but still she is proud of Diana. Menalippe is hovering over her, holding the back of Antiope’s head. Her voice is tinged with a muted sort of panic, but Antiope focuses on Diana. The Godkiller. Antiope knows that Diana will be capable of far more than just this. _She will be strong enough to defeat Ares._ The Godkiller runs off in shock, and Antiope cannot move herself from the ground to follow.

It has been hundreds of years since Antiope has seen Man. They wear different clothes and carry different weapons, but she can sense the corruption in their hearts from the moment they step foot on the beach. It has been hundreds of years since the rebellion, and the Amazonian wolf has not been killed, only tamed. Antiope’s cavalry rounds the corner of the cliff-side and she feels a feral grin leap to her face. She breathes in and out and releases her arrow and kills her first man in a hundred years.

These men carry weapons the likes of which Antiope has never seen. They fire invisible arrows that cut down her archers in droves, felling warriors Antiope has trained with since they crawled out of the ocean together. The men throw something, a small metal ball, in the direction of the cavalry, and the ground explodes. Antiope sees Menalippe and another Amazon get blown from their horses from the force of the shock. Another is thrown in her direction, and before she can blink, the air itself shoves her forward with a roar and she is on the ground, ears ringing and horse screaming in pain behind her. The wolf howls for blood, and she grabs the first weapon she sees; a bow and the arrows from the accompanying quiver on the ground next to her. She uses them to shoot the man running towards her, swiftly dispatches his companions as well. Antiope has long stopped counting those she has killed. They are only men, and for each one dead, there is one less man to harm her sisters.

She does not hesitate for a second when she sees the weapon pointed at Diana. She runs, jumps between the soldier and her niece and feels a sharp pain shoot through her chest. She thinks she hears Diana scream. There is another gunshot, and for one heart-stopping moment, Antiope fears she has failed her sister again. But then Diana is over her, holding her up, her hands hovering over a wound that no healer could mend. Her niece looks lost, eyes brimming with an almost childlike confusion. _You are stronger than you know, Diana. You are the Godkiller. You will go, you will leave this island, and you will kill the god the Amazons themselves failed to defeat. You will be everything I know you can be and more._

Antiope cannot form the words she wishes to say. Her head and limbs are heavy, blackness eating at the edges of her vision. She looks into Diana’s eyes and she tries to tell her that she would do it again, all of it, to save her. The words get stuck in her throat and she is so, so tired. She does not hear the cry of her niece, nor the frantic whispers of her name from her sister. She does not hear the screams of her lover. The crashing of the ocean waves lulls her into what might have been a deep sleep, and sightless eyes gaze away from the ocean.

_Time feels slow, muddled. She moves through the world as if on a breeze, sees the world as if through a blurred lens. She sees Diana walk through a land of grey, burnt trees. Terrified soldiers are her niece’s only witnesses as she defies logic itself to cross the burning land of Man. She sees Hippolyta, alone in the council room, staring at her crown on the table in front of her. She sees Menalippe, standing as though lost in ocean waves as the tides grow higher and higher, before dragging herself out of the water and sitting on the shore, blankly staring out into the ocean. She reaches out to them, calls out to them, but her voice catches in her throat and it feels as though water is filling up her lungs. She cannot move, cannot breathe; her body feels as though it is hardening into the ocean floor and her lungs are filling with seawater. She cannot see the surface, cannot swim up, cannot-_

She awakens, with a start, on a sunlit beach.

**Author's Note:**

> Plot? In my oneshots? It's more likely than you think.
> 
> Thanks once more to Erin for helping me out with editing!
> 
> ...also yes I totally edited the title of my first work to make it match this one. 
> 
> Next up is Menalippe!


End file.
